Holy Martyrs Probos, Tarachos and Andronikos in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. These Saints lived when Diocletian was consul in Rome and Flavian was governor. Tarachos was advanced in age, Roman by birth, and a soldier by profession. Probos was from Side in Pamphylia, while Andronikos was from the city of Ephesus in Ionia. During the persecutions that had broken out against the Christians at that time, all three were arrested.

They crushed Tarachos’s jaws and neck with stones, burned his hands with fire, and suspended him on a wooden frame amid suffocating smoke. Next, they poured vinegar into his nostrils and seared his breasts with red-hot spits. They cut off his ears with a razor, flayed his head, and threw him to the beasts. Finally, after cutting him into pieces with a knife, he offered his soul to God.

The valiant Probos was first beaten with rawhide thongs. Then they burned his feet with red-hot irons and suspended him on a wooden frame. There they seared his back and sides with red-hot spits, and pierced his shins with other spits. Finally, after cutting him to pieces with knives as well, he reached his blessed end.

The divine Andronikos was suspended on a wooden frame, his shins slashed with sharp irons, and his sides pierced through. Then the executioners rubbed salt into his wounds, cut off his tongue and lips, and, after cutting nearly his entire body to pieces with knives, he too surrendered his spirit into the hands of God.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 12

 

"The Flight of the French from Moscow on October 12, 1812" (originally illustrated by artist D. Scotti)

The Month of October

Day 12

43. Homily on the Occasion of the Cross Procession Around the Kremlin

(Commemorating the Expulsion of the French from Moscow, October 12)*

Today, a cross procession is held in Moscow around the Kremlin in memory of the French abandonment of Moscow in 1812. On this ever-memorable day, as we recall both the disastrous and the glorious period in the history of our homeland, the following words of Chrysostom, the Ecumenical Teacher, naturally come to mind:

“Let us not be discontented, but rejoice in our sorrows, for they are medicines beneficial to our wounds. Although bitter on the one hand, they are sweet on the other. Let us be grateful to God even for our afflictions, for He does not send them without reason, but accomplishes through them what is beneficial for our souls.” (Prologue, August 7)

These words naturally come to mind today because we believe that nothing could better demonstrate their truth than the events of that ever-memorable year of 1812, which we commemorate today. Indeed, consider first the beginning of the Patriotic War. We surrendered Smolensk to the enemy, and then, following the Battle of Borodino, we abandoned Moscow itself.

Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Luke: On the Good Sower (Archimandrite George Kapsanis)

 

Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Luke: On the Good Sower 

By Archimandrite George Kapsanis,
Former Abbot of the Sacred Monastery of Gregoriou, Mount Athos

(Delivered in 2001)

Today’s parable is our Lord’s most beautiful parable concerning the Good Sower, who sows the seed, whose fruitfulness or ultimate loss depends on the soil on which it falls. This parable prompts us to reflect on our responsibility concerning what kind of soil we ourselves are.

That is, whether we offer ourselves to God as good soil, into which His word can fall and bear fruit “thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold,” or whether, on the contrary, because of our passions, our indifference, and the cares of this life, the word of God falls and is heard by us but bears no fruit. It is lost.

Once again, we see that our salvation is the result of synergy. God works our salvation, but we too must cooperate. God sows His word, but we must be ready to hear the word of God and bear fruit, as the holy Evangelist characteristically says, “with patience.”

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Luke (St. Cleopa of Sihastria)

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Luke, 
or Twenty-First Sunday After Pentecost

On the Sowers of the Word of God

“The sower went out to sow his seed” (Luke 8:5).

By St. Cleopa of Sihastria

Beloved faithful,

The Sower in today’s Gospel parable is none other than our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ Himself. He came forth from the bosom of the Father, as He Himself said: “I came forth from God” (John 17:8), and came to earth to sow the seed of His word. The field in which He sowed the seed of the Holy Gospel is this world, which He created, as He said in another parable: “The field is the world” (Matthew 13:38).

From this parable we see that only one-quarter of the field, that is, of the world, was good soil. Having received the seed of the word of God, this soil grew and yielded a hundredfold (Matthew 13:23). The other three parts of the field were a road trampled by people (Matthew 13:4), rocky ground, and soil overgrown with thorns (Matthew 13:22). When the good seed of the word fell upon them, it bore no fruit but was lost.

Although “God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4), who is to blame that only one-quarter of the world is represented by good soil, receiving the seed of the word of life and bearing fruit a hundredfold? The entire blame for this lack of fruitfulness lies not with God, but with the human being who, through the disordered state of his soul, prevents the seed of the divine word from growing and bearing fruit. We must know that God created the human being with free will. He does not force open the doors of human hearts; He merely knocks at their doors, as it is written: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).

Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Luke (St. Justin Popovich)

Homily on the Fourth Sunday of Luke
 
21st Sunday after Pentecost 

Luke 8:5–15

By St. Justin Popovich

(Delivered in 1964 at the Ćelije Monastery)

[Editorial Note: This sermon by Saint Justin Popovich has been translated from a Serbian transcription of an audio recording. The transcription contains passages that are unclear or missing, and the surviving recording ends before the sermon is complete. These gaps have been retained in the translation; no attempt has been made to reconstruct the missing words.]

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A brief Gospel, a brief parable of the Savior, and yet the whole world is contained within it, all human labor is contained within it, and the entire destiny of the world is contained within it. Today’s Holy Gospel contains the whole history of Christianity and the entire history of every Christian individually. This world is God’s field for heavenly seed; the chief Sower is the God-man, the Lord Christ, who sows the heavenly, divine truths. Three-quarters of the seed perish; only one-quarter succeeds. Why? Because of the soil, because of the ground, because some seed falls on stony ground, some among thorns, some beside the road, and some on good soil (Luke 8:5–8). The Gospel is yours, the Gospel is mine, and undoubtedly the Gospel belongs to everyone. What is happening to the seed? Pay attention: you are a human being, which means that you are an earthly field for heavenly seed. Where has it fallen? Has it fallen among thorns, on stony ground, beside the road of your soul, or on good soil? The seed falls beside the road of a person’s soul when that person receives Christ’s teaching and listens to it but pays no attention to it, does not care about it, and leaves it there at the edge of the soul, where the racecourse of various temptations lies, where the racecourse of the sins of this world and of Satan, the ruler of this world, lies. What happens then? The Savior explains it to us, telling us the sad story of this seed: “Those are the people who hear the word of God, but afterward the devil comes and takes the word away from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved” (Luke 8:12). “Indeed, truth …” (Some words on the tape are unclear.—Transcriber’s note.) This means that he is here in the world around us; he prowls around us. No, he roams the earth and walks about, as he declares … (Same note as above.) when he is asked about the righteous Job: “I have been going to and fro on the earth, and walking up and down on it” (Job 1:7).

Holy Apostle Philip of the Seventy in the Hymnography of the Orthodox Church

By Fr. George Dorbarakis

1. Saint Philip the Deacon, distinct from Philip the disciple of the Lord, came from Caesarea in Palestine. He was married and had four daughters, all four of whom were prophetesses in the Church. The Evangelist Luke mentions him on several occasions in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. He was appointed by the Holy Apostles as a Deacon of the Church, to serve the needs of the Christians, together with Saint Stephen and the other deacons. After the persecution that broke out following the death of Saint Stephen, he went to Samaria, where he preached and instructed many in the Christian faith, including Simon the Magician, whom he baptized. The Evangelist Luke also recounts the incident in which Philip was carried away by an angel so that he could approach an Ethiopian official. Finding the official reading the Prophet Isaiah, Philip catechized him and baptized him. Then, having once again been led by an angel of the Lord to the city of Azotus, he enlightened its inhabitants through his preaching. He subsequently arrived at Tralles in Asia Minor. There, alongside his preaching, he performed many miracles, founded a church, and finally departed to the Lord.

Homilies from the Menaion for Every Day of the Year: October 11

 

The Month of October 

Day 11

42. The Lord Sometimes Works Miracles through Holy Icons Even for Unbelievers, in Order to Make Unbelievers Believers

(The Account of the Miracle That Occurred through an Icon of Our Lord Jesus Christ)

The Lord works miracles through holy icons not only for believers but sometimes for unbelievers as well. Why does He work miracles for the latter? Know, brethren, that in His infinite love He does so in order to make unbelievers believers as well, and to bring those who are not of His fold into His fold. How can this be demonstrated? It can be shown by the following wondrous event, which took place in the early centuries of Christianity in the city of Berytus, as Saint Athanasios the Great relates.

In the city of Berytus, a Christian lived in a house situated among the dwellings of Jews, and he had an icon of the Lord Jesus Christ. After some time, he moved to another house, and, leaving the aforementioned icon in the old one, offered the dwelling to a Jew. The Jew moved in, but, by a special dispensation of God, he was unable to see the icon of Christ the Savior. One day, however, a friend came to dine with him. During the meal, the friend glanced at the wall, saw the image of Christ upon it, and was astonished.

The History of the 26 Martyrs, the Watchtower, and the Cenotaph Memorial of Zographou Monastery

The history of Mount Athos is filled with accounts of spiritual endurance, but few chapters are as gripping as the sacrifice traditionally associated with Zographou Monastery in the late thirteenth century. It was a time of immense political and religious upheaval. Roman Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, seeking military and political alliances with the West to strengthen his empire, pursued the Union of Lyons in 1274. The union recognized papal primacy and provoked strong opposition among many Orthodox clergy, monastics, and laypeople. The monastic communities of Mount Athos became prominent in the resistance to the union, unwilling to accept what they regarded as a compromise of the Orthodox faith.

According to the traditional account, a force of men seeking to enforce the union arrived at Zographou. The monks had been forewarned by a miraculous voice from the monastery’s vineyard, where an icon of the Mother of God announced the impending danger. The icon, known as the Proangellomeni (“She Who Foretells”) or the Akathist Icon, is venerated in connection with this event. The monastery’s abbot, Thomas, ordered those brothers who feared the approaching trial to seek safety in the surrounding wilderness.

Elder Hatziflourentzos Patsias of Milia (+ 1969)

Pappou Hatziflourentzos (Flourentzos Michael Patsias, “Hatzimounas”): The Glory of Milia

By Antonis Antoniou

Elder Hatziflourentzos was born in the village of Milia, in the Famagusta district of Cyprus, in 1901. His faith in and love for God were great. His exceptionally ascetic way of life and prophetic words made him seem like a madman. He never attended school and, for a large part of his life, did not know how to read. At first, he made no effort in the spiritual life and lived an ordinary worldly existence. Then, however, a seemingly insignificant incident became the occasion for his soul to be enlightened and filled with divine longing for our Lord and for every spiritual virtue.

When he was about forty years old, moved by divine zeal, he began cautiously to examine and study the sacred books of the Church. Before long, he had learned to read. He worked as a farmer and livestock breeder, and later took up various other occupations, including that of a mason and a farrier. He married a quiet woman from Milia named Annezu, and together they had six children: five sons and one daughter.

In 1945, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from which he received the name Hatzis. After he had married off three of his six children, his divine longing led him first to the Monastery of the Apostle Barnabas near Varosha and later to the Monastery of Stavrovouni, where he wished to become a monk. The abbots of both monasteries, however, refused to receive him because he was married and still had unmarried children.